Digital BW, The Print

At 06:30 PM 8/5/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>But that doesn't explain why people are examining and discusing the 
>photographs of one fifty years after they were taken and the photos from 
>another are forgotten the day the newspaper is used on the bottom of the 
>birdcage.
>
>Truman
>
>Alan Zinn wrote:
>
>> At 01:40 PM 8/5/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> >Truman Prevatt wrote:
>> >
>> >>The photographer is not just one person. The photojournalist reports 
>> the
>> >>facts, but in the hands of Cartier-Bresson, W. Eugene Smith, Lange and
>> >>others the camera was used to convey the hopes, dreams and emotions of
>> >>their subjects better than any other media could have done.
>> >>
>> >>There are many good photographer technicians  but the true 
>> photographer,
>> >>the one whose photographs stand the test of time, are more than a
>> >>reporter of fact, they covey in every shot their message, their passion
>> >>and their emotion.
>> >>
>> >> 
>> >>
>> >Exactly...
>> >
>> >When I've lectured to photo students, I've said, when you shoot, think
>> >first of the emotion you want to convey..  Given  that photography is
>> >inherently limiting just in going from 3 or 4 to solely two dimensions,
>> > you need to not just replicate reality, but to convey the emotion  that
>> >is motivating you to choose that image as a subject in the first place..
>> >
>> >That's part of what Adams did with filters etc..
>> >
>> >Keith
>> >

Truman,

One can not set out to make an icon. Very few picures stand out in our
media-driven culture. Those that do are the authoratitive models which only
the rare person and/or special circumstances create. Any number of artists
have made and continue to make very good or better Ansel Adams, Strand, or
Weston-style images because the broader culture knows and thoroughly
understands that form.  

Rightly or not a photograph's authenticity is judged by how well it fits a
formal prototype not how it came to be made. Why can't there be an authentic
style of digitally manipulated photographs (for the sake of argument, not
montages which I consider a form of drawing) that will endure the same as
traditional images? The highly manipulated style of A. Adams, Steichen, or
Eugene Smith, for example, is unquestioned yet using a computer is thought
to be somehow unfaithful to the craft. 

AZ
Maker of Lookaround panoramic camera.
http://www.panoramacamera.us
         or
keyword.com lookaround